Chilling Experience

March 10, 1988|By Compiled by Heather McPherson of the Sentinel Staff

WHAT WAS the original frozen meal? The Joy of Cooking, the bible for many American cooks, tells of an Arctic explorer's Eskimo recipe for a frozen dinner: ''Kill and gut a medium-sized walrus. Net several flocks of small migrating birds and remove one specific small feather from each wing feather from each wing. Store birds whole in interior of walrus. Sew up walrus and freeze. Two years or so later, find the cache -- if you can -- notify clan of a feast, partially thaw walrus. Slice and serve.'' And don't forget the toothpicks. Today, walrus may be about the only thing you can't find in your supermarket's frozen-food section.

DOUBLE DUTY

IF THE recipe calls for cooking rice in a steamer and the cupboard is bare -- of the steamer, that is -- what do you do? Use a metal colander instead. Place the rice in the colander, then the colander in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid. Pour boiling water in the pot, but do not let it touch the colander. As the water boils, the steam cooks the rice. Or you can cook it using the metal colander according to the package directions.

VEGGIE FACTS

FOOD TRIVIA question of the week: What's the difference between a vegan and a pollovegetarian? Both are vegetarians. The vegan is the strictest of vegetarians, eating only foods from plant sources, such as vegetables, fruit, nuts, etc. Absolutely no meat or animal byproducts, such as eggs, cheese -- not even honey -- are allowed. The pollovegetarian omits red meat, but will eat poultry along with the plant foods. You knew that, didn't you? Well, then smarty, what's a pescovegetarian? It is someone who eats seafood in addition to plant foods. Think that about covers it? Put down that salad -- there's more. The lactovegetarian also consumes milk and milk products and sometimes eggs, though some people call the dairy-egg-eating vegetarian a lacto-ovo- vegetarian. Put those in the form of a question and you'll walk home with the big bucks on Jeopardy.

SPLISH, SPLASH

DOMAINE CHANDON of Yountville, Calif., offers the following tips on serving sparkling wine to a crowd. When you find a sparkling wine you like, buy it in quantity, or ask a wine merchant to stock enough for your party. A standard (750 milliliter) bottle provides five to six glasses of wine, so count on three glasses per guest. Sparkling wine is in a class by itself and deserves a glass all its own. Check restaurant supply and housewares stores for inexpensive flutes. You'll be glad you invested. Whatever glasses you select should hold no more than 6 ounces. Larger glasses will deplete your supply of sparking wine much too fast, and your guests will have too much to drink. How to make the wine last? Never fill the glass more than three-fourths full. This isn't being stingy, it preserves the bubbles longer. And remember, a responsible host does not feel compelled to refill glasses without interruption. Never let too much of a good thing ruin a great evening. A free booklet, A User's Guide to Sparkling Wine, is available by writing to: Domaine Chandon, Box 2470, Yountville, Calif. 94599.

WHEN IS a pizza not a pizza? When it doesn't contain any tomato sauce, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA has denied Wolfgang Puck permission to market a new frozen product, Pesto Pizza, as a pizza because it doesn't contain any tomato sauce. The folks at the USDA must not be aware that Puck is the inventor of designer pizza. The March/April issue of Cook's magazine says that rumor has it that perhaps Puck will add a trace of tomato so that his product can be called real pizza.

SALAD DAYS

AUTUMN GOLD, an attractive new iceberg lettuce with well-rounded heads, may be on the produce counter within a year, according to Edward J. Ryder of the U.S. Agricultural Research Station in Salinas, Calif. The lettuce is designed for December and January harvest in California and Arizona, where much of the nation's winter lettuce crop is produced. In an article in Food & Nutrition, a USDA newsletter, Ryder noted that from the growers' standpoint, the new variety has two important features. First, it resists mosaic virus, which makes plants worthless. (Infected plants form small, distorted heads with leaves that have a mosaic pattern of dark and light green.) And, second, it doesn't go to seed too early -- a common hot-weather problem with other varieties planted for late-fall or early-winter harvest.